Male sexual reassignment a "mental disorder"?

I find this to be absolute bullshit. :bang:
But what is worse is that I can not form a logical counter for any of this and that just makes me even more upset.

---------- Post added 30th Oct 2012 at 03:40 PM ----------

To clarify. I have misread, and Doctor Faustus, I am not offended by anything here. What I was saying was that I do not agree that being MTF and wanting such gender reassignment is a mental disorder. I agree its genetic but not a disorder.
However it is a bit troubling for me as I cannot seem to figure out a logical answear to this claim being made by this article that it is a disorder.
I wish the edit button did not have a time limit e.e

 

This is a question identical to depression or anxiety; if someone desires medication to treat depression or anxiety, do they have a mental disorder?

The answer is, technically, yes. What they don't have, however, is the stigma you slap on 'em with that label. Nor is the desire for medication a disorder in itself. TG individuals necessitating surgery or hormones have dysphoria, and this is the current way of treating it. TG individuals who exhibit no such dysphoria don't desire surgery or horomones, and thus have no mental disorder. It's not that hard to understand.

This entire debate is merely yet another sanitization of reality. TG individuals with dysphoria great enough to require standard of care surgeries do have a medical condition and depathologizing it is politically correct nonsense designed to fail them at their most critical areas. It's hard enough to get insurance to pay for these medically necessary treatments; try doing it after highly sensitive imbeciles get it struck from the register and only confirm every misconception that TG is a cosmetic issue. The solution is to wipe the stigma from mental illness, not redefine what mental illness is.

 

This mentality is common in much of Europe. One of my FtM friends lives in Denmark. If you're homosexual--like me--you can't receive hormone treatments. A lot of gay trans people have to pretend to be straight to receive care. My friend is bisexual, but he can't let any of the officials find out that he has sexual attractions for other men.

The argument is that it's "illogical" to allow people to transition who are otherwise heterosexual as defined by their birth sex. They can go on to have children as they are born, but can't if they transition. Why is this up to them? It's up to me how I use my reproductive organs and no one else. If I want to change them, I should be able to--despite the fact that I'm attracted to women.

 

Thank you, this has really opened my eyes. I now realize that I have a mental disorder and need help because I just want to be myself. Thank you so much for this. In retrospect, it is evident that something is wrong with myself and all transgenders. We obviously all have severe mental disorders.

Oh, wait, no we don't. Whoever wrote this is an idiot.



I hope I'm taking this the right way. They do mean it in the negative way, correct? Or am I just overly tired?

 

This shit really bothers me... mostly because it is a real fear of mine. I've never done anything with a girl, but I consider myself more or less bisexual. I didn't have any issues with my gender until right around the start of puberty, and I'm not going to lie, when fantasizing it often involves being a girl.

This is upsetting to me, but logically I don't think there is much truth to it. The thought of being physically and socially viewed as female just makes me feel very very good in a non-sexual way. I don't really buy into this notion at all.

 

I consider myself being transsexual a purely physical condition and not a mental condition. I am a fan of the hypothesis that it is caused by hormones in-vitro and is not a genetic condition. I also believe that gender-associated behavior is learned and not something people are born with.

Also, I don't really understand why you included the "male" in the title of this thread. This kind of stuff effects girls too.

 

Transgender politics and the medical profession get tricky real fast. In a perfect world, transgender people wouldn't be pathologized. In the real world, considering gender dysphoria a disorder can help to increase access to health solutions transgender people need. (If considered a disorder, it is more likely to be covered by insurance, or whatever.)

 

I think that if people viewed it as a physical condition and not a mental infirmity, that it would be easier to receive physical treatment while at the same time absolving us of the stigma of being mentally disordered.

 

So if you are a heterosexual MTF or FTM, you receive coverage? But if you are a homosexual, you don't because you're not going to get in bed with the opposite sex of the sex you transition into? :dry:

People actually sit down and split hairs like this? Personally I'm very ignorant to transgendered people, and the politics surrounding their rights. I guess they are to me as gays are to most straights. I just don't understand it... I have seen some gorgeous FTMs though.

Bottom line is, it should go both ways, and support should be available to everyone without bias on sexuality preference.

 

Indeed. This isn't hairsplitting, it's drawing completely arbitrary lines.
I really don't see what a persons sexuality or if they're going to have sex after, has to with them being allowed to undergo sex reassignement?

 

This is an attempt to categorically define something that our medical and psychological professions don't really understand, and when you try to define something like that, you're going to end up falling through in a lot of areas. Psychological or Physical (I lean toward physical) I'll concede that it is a disorder in the sense that the mind and body are out of order and in disagreement, and as a relatively financially poor Transgender, I can't help but agree with Pret on having coverage with it classified as a disorder.

On the other hand, as I said above, I think their criteria are somewhat poorly defined. First and foremost, I don't believe that sexual orientation should be part of the criteria. Orientation and gender identity are two separate animals. They're not the same thing, and one doesn't necessarily impact the other. If Orientation and Identity were tied that closely together, than I think that there would be a much higher percentage of Trans individuals in the LBGT community.

Then there's the talk of sex itself and fantasizing. Okay, as far as dressing femininely and expressing my gender, do I get aroused on occasion? Yes, because if I start thinking those thoughts, it doesn't really matter what I'm wearing, I'm going to get aroused. Given the fact that I feel more sure of myself when I'm expressing as female, and more in charge of myself, yes, I get aroused if something happens to turn me on. Is it because I'm wearing the clothing, or the makeup, or anything like that. No. I'm living kind of a double life right now with my female self emerging more and more, but I'd say I'm no more likely to be turned on while female than I am while male at this point. And fantasizing, yes I won't lie. I often fantasize that I am a woman, with all of the right bits while pleasuring myself. It just feels more correct for me because that's how I identify.

Because they don't know exactly what it is that they're dealing with, they choose to focus on sex. I can't speak for everybody who labels themselves as Trans, but for me, there's so much more to it than sex. On the whole sex is such a small part of it, but that seems to be the focus here. It's about my personality and the way I interact with others, and about the way I seem to think and feel, based on my experiences anyway, on the feminine side of the fence as it were. It's about the fact that, sex and sexual arousal completely aside, my body is wrong on the most fundamental level. If they want to define it, they need to look more at the actual mind body connection and not just as something sexual.

Yes, it affects me somewhat sexually, but that's not the origin. Probably I've stumbled in a little over my depth here and I'm completely open to any criticism on my view point, but this is how I see it.

 

I still sincerely do not understand why it should matter whether you get aroused by the idea of changing genders or who you will or will not have sex with.

 

Not to sound like a dick or anything.... but you should of probably reading it thoroughly?

 

Linthras-

I still sincerely do not understand why it should matter whether you get aroused by the idea of changing genders or who you will or will not have sex with.

Me -

I think it has to do with the fact that, in a field that's relatively poorly understood, and based so much on feelings and internal struggles, its hard to find solid and concrete data. They need hard facts and numbers which come from watching and recording behavior. That's why so much of their numbers revolve around the sexual aspect. And, in my opinion, whether or not the data has any merit, using just the one aspect makes their thesis flawed and suspect at best.

Again, my opinion

 

I see why it might be one of the few things they can put on a graph, but I don't see why that's a problem in any way.

 

Yeah, again, bad idea reading it at that time. I was too tired and sort of misread it. Still disagree with transgender being a mental disorder. If anything, I see it that the body was/is incorrect, not the mind.